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June start eyed for Arc group home in Fitchburg

By Alana Melanson, amelanson@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
04/18/2013 07:17:37 AM EDT

FITCHBURG -- The Arc of Opportunity of North Central Massachusetts is hoping to break ground on a new group home off of Beech Street in early June to serve its developmentally and intellectually disabled clients.

According to President and CEO Mary Heafy, the new home will replace an older one the agency has sold on Brigham Park that no longer meets the needs for accessibility of current and future clients.

The agency is planning a 5-bedroom, 2,670 square-foot, ranch-style home that will be fully accessible to wheelchairs, and each room will include an exterior door to a covered patio, which would facilitate evacuation in an emergency situation, she said.

The home will also feature a reinforced central den designed to withstand tornado and hurricane winds, Heafy said.

The group home will be situated on an approximately 49,900-square-foot portion of a 2.9-acre property The Arc of Opportunity owns behind the American Legion on Daniels Street, she said, and will be accessible through Beech Street.

On Tuesday night, the Planning Board approved the agency's request to subdivide that property into three smaller lots -- the lot the group home will occupy and two smaller lots of similar size that The Arc of Opportunity intends to sell to developers interested in building single-family homes.

Abutters and other neighborhood residents filled the tiny conference room at the city offices Tuesday evening for a public hearing to voice their thoughts and concerns over the proposed plan for the property.

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Heafy said many of those who attended were concerned that the home would be for sex offenders or substance abusers, but she believes they were more welcoming of the group home upon learning that it would be for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

"Most of these people are from North Central Massachusetts," she said. "This is home for them. We're simply moving them into a home that will better meet their needs and allow them to be part of the community."

Others were concerned about a loss of privacy they feel will occur with the development of the land and the creation of a road between their properties.

To address that issue, the Planning Board is requiring The Arc of Opportunity to submit a detailed landscaping and planting plan to create a buffer between the properties, according to Principal Planner Michael O'Hara.

Heafy said the hearing opened up a 20-day waiting period before a building permit can be pulled, to allow residents to submit their comments on the project.

She's looking forward to continuing the conversation with neighbors began that Tuesday, and she hopes they will "welcome us as much as we look forward to being with them."

As the project moves forward, Heafy intends to bring the group home's residents to the site to see its progress and become acquainted with neighbors.

"As with everything we do, it's not about disability -- it's about being part of the community," she said. "We're looking forward to being part of the Cleghorn neighborhood."

The Arc of Opportunity has owned the Beech Street property since Dec. 1, Heafy said, when the nonprofit H.H. Gagnon's assets were merged with the agency's.

When The Arc of Opportunity began creating group homes in the 1970s, nonprofit organizations of its type were prohibited from owning their own properties, Heafy said.

H.H. Gagnon spun off from the agency to fulfill that need, buying and leasing homes to it and many other agencies, she said.

With that law no longer in place, the board of H.H. Gagnon came to the realization last year that its mission was no longer needed in today's society, Heafy said.

Nonprofit agencies can't simply go out of business; they must dissolve or merge with another nonprofit, and any remaining assets must go to another nonprofit with a similar mission, she said.

Because H.H. Gagnon originally came from The Arc of Opportunity, "it made sense, full circle, to come back to us," Heafy said.

She said H.H. Gagnon had initially acquired the Beech Street property from the American Legion several years ago, and intended to build a 16-unit condominium to accommodate aging parents still supporting adult children with disabilities. The plan had been approved by the city, but the project was not financially feasible to move forward, Heafy said.

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